New York City Marathon Lands New Sponsor

Event to Be Known as TCS New York City Marathon Next Year

Starting next year, the ING New York City Marathon will be known as the TCS New York City Marathon.

Organizers of the New York race, which is America's largest marathon, said that Tata Consultancy Services signed an eight-year pact to serve as title sponsor of the race. Neither side disclosed terms.

ENLARGE

Winner Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya (center) with second-place Emmanual Mutai of Kenya (left) and third-place Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia after the 2011 ING New York City Marathon.
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Financial-services firm ING had sponsored the race since 2003, but had said weeks ago that it wouldn't renew its contract in part because it intends to shift toward a new corporate name. The race's next running is Nov. 3.

Tata, a global consultancy with headquarters in Mumbai and New York, already boasts the title sponsorship of the TCS Amsterdam Marathon and has been a lower-level sponsor of the Boston, New York and Chicago marathons. Noting that TCS has been a sponsor of the New York marathon since 2010, Mary Wittenberg, chief executive of the New York Road Runners, which runs the marathon and other races across the city, said in an interview, "It's nice that somebody already in the family stepped forward."

Wittenberg described the agreement as much broader than the ING deal it will replace, explaining that Tata will serve as a nontitle sponsor of races and events beyond the marathon.

Tata said in its latest annual report that its earnings jumped 34% in the year ended in March on a 29% jump in revenue. It also said that for the first time, the company exceeded $3 billion in revenue in a quarter, during the fiscal fourth quarter last year.

Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Tata's chief executive, said he has run six marathons in six years—"to complete, not compete." According to race results website Athlinks, Chandrasekaran, 50, finished the 2012 Boston Marathon in 6:54:48.

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